Is this the best performance by a club golfer you’ve ever seen?
The life of a club golfer is often filled with hope and expectation each time they tee it up in the next competition.
Is today the day I shoot my best-ever score? Can I find every fairway? Can I avoid the dreaded three-putt?
Speaking from experience, that hope is usually derailed around the 5th, but this couldn’t have been further from the case recently at Hillside.
One member took his midweek stableford by storm by carding an incredible score of 62. The super-human in question is named Richie Blundell, a +3 handicapper who has played at the stunning Merseyside links since the age of 11.
“I suppose it was a score that was in the offing, I had been playing well to that point. I’ve always said when the weather comes good, I’ll shoot a low score,” Blundell told NCG.
“For me, it’s just going out there, shooting the best score you can and at some point, it’s pretty fun to go low, but fancying you do it and actually doing it are different.”
Hillside posted Blundell’s scorecard on Twitter which showed the 38-year-old’s incredible streak of six birdies from 2 to 7 – and he almost extended this run on the 8th.
“I’ve had six before, but I was definitely going for number seven. I made a good putt to make it six in a row and I said to the guys, I’ve never had seven in a row,” he added. “It rolled right over the edge. It couldn’t have been any closer!”
The dizzying thought of making seven birdies in a row is too much to comprehend for most weekend players, but Blundell added three more on the back-nine, including an eagle on the par-5 11th hole.
The only bogey on his card came on the par-3 16th, ironically the easiest hole on the course. This went down as a nett double-bogey due to Blundell’s outstanding handicap.
The 10-under-par 62 is the first-ever double-digit score in the red at Hillside, which hosted the 2019 Betfred British Masters on the DP World Tour.
There were four temporary greens in play, so the remarkable round won’t go down as a course record, but this doesn’t tarnish the superb play of the Lancashire man who represents his county’s golf team.
Blundell was modestly quick to point out that some main greens weren’t in play, as well as the favourable weather conditions, but by no means do these factors take away from such a display.
“It was a pretty calm day, it was a nice day,” he said. “It was one of those days that you don’t tend to get very often at Hillside where it’s just a calm wind really, so you could pretty much get where you wanted to with a good shot.”
43 points in a midweek stableford for a +3 handicapper is certainly a lesser-spotted beast. Blundell will no doubt begin his quest for a 61 and even more personal history.
What is your best-ever score in a club competition? Tweet me and let me know!
Matt Chivers
Now on the wrong side of 25, Matt has been playing golf since the age of 13 and was largely inspired to take up the game by countless family members who played golf during his childhood.
Matt is a member at Royal Cinque Ports in Deal playing off a 5 handicap, just a pitching wedge away from his hometown of Dover where he went to school and grew up. He has previously been a member at Etchinghill and Walmer and Kingsdown in Kent.
Having studied history at the University of Liverpool, Matt went on to pass his NCTJ Exams in Manchester a year later to fulfil his lifelong ambition of becoming a journalist. He picked up work experience along the way at places such as the Racing Post, the Independent, Sportsbeat and the Lancashire Evening Post.
Matt joined NCG in February 2023 and is the website’s main source of tour news, features and opinion. He has reported live from events such as The Open, the Ryder Cup and The Players Championship, having also interviewed and spoken to the likes of Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell, Henrik Stenson, to name just a few.
Consuming tour golf on what is a 24/7 basis, you can come to Matt for informed views on the game and the latest updates on the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA Tour, Ladies European Tour and LIV Golf.
What’s in Matt’s bag: Cobra LTDx LS driver, Cobra LTDx 3-wood, TaylorMade P7MC irons, Ping Glide 4.0 wedges, Odyssey putter.
